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[AbridgedPause]

Pre-70s wool hats do exist, though rare and easily identifiable from fur felt. 99.9% of vintage hats from the 50s and older are a fur felt (rabbit, beaver, Nutria, etc). Old hats do not read "fur felt" on their bands like modern hats do.

We have many threads devoted to older examples, and each thread has a great amount of informative photographs

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I'm sure it's easy to tell fur felt from wool apart in person but how about through pictures and online listings? If a vintage hat from say the 1950's doesn't say "fur felt" and let's assume the seller either doesn't know or doesn't want to say it (in the case that it's wool), how can you be sure? Are there any markings to rely on?

 

[scottyrocks]

Many woolies don't have liners, whereas many (most) furs do. It's not an absolute either way, but it can be used as a clue.

 

[splintercellsz]

I'm sure it's easy to tell fur felt from wool apart in person but how about through pictures and online listings? If a vintage hat from say the 1950's doesn't say "fur felt" and let's assume the seller either doesn't know or doesn't want to say it (in the case that it's wool), how can you be sure? Are there any markings to rely on?

Sweatbands bear manufatruring labels. Research normally points to what the factory specialized. Many companies labeled their felt qualities (premier, excellent, standard, etc). here is a photo from a 40s/50 Merrimack hat u sold a while back, a label from an early 40s Mallory Plastic felt, and a regular vintage fur felt.

In photographs, wool somtimes has a slight "rougher" look to it

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[jlee562]

Honestly I've seen more fur felts misidentified as wool than the other way around. Somewhere on a Venn diagram, there's a Section of folks who don't know that fur felt was always predominate. There was a listicle somewhere that I read about why fedoras are awful, and one of the comments was from a guy who was saying that he had a 'real wool felt hat' like they used to be in the old days. Riiiiiiiiiggggghhhht.

I think the chances of someone nefariously concealing a wool felt are negligible.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Honestly I've seen more fur felts misidentified as wool than the other way around. Somewhere on a Venn diagram, there's a Section of folks who don't know that fur felt was always predominate. There was a listicle somewhere that I read about why fedoras are awful, and one of the comments was from a guy who was saying that he had a 'real wool felt hat' like they used to be in the old days. Riiiiiiiiiggggghhhht.

I think the chances of someone nefariously concealing a wool felt are negligible.

Cept maybe on ebay...

 

[moontheloon]

Are all vintage fur felt (beaver, rabbit) hats labeled "fur felt" or something of the kind? Because nowadays if a hat doesn't say "fur felt" then it's usually a good indicator that it's wool. But does that rule apply to vintage hats from the 1940's and 1950's too? In other words, if a vintage hat has the original band, and the band doesn't mention "fur felt" anywhere, can it still be fur felt?

vintage hats from the major companies rarely say "fur felt"

you knew by the price and manufacturer what you were getting even if you didn't know their exact formula

 

[blueAZNmonkey]

Honestly I've seen more fur felts misidentified as wool than the other way around. Somewhere on a Venn diagram, there's a Section of folks who don't know that fur felt was always predominate. There was a listicle somewhere that I read about why fedoras are awful, and one of the comments was from a guy who was saying that he had a 'real wool felt hat' like they used to be in the old days. Riiiiiiiiiggggghhhht.

I think the chances of someone nefariously concealing a wool felt are negligible.

Ahhh the good ol' days... when wool was fur...

 

[boze]

Has there been any consideration given to dividing the classifieds up? I know it's not a busy enough subforum to be truly necessary, but if it was divided into Hats, Shoes, and Clothes (i.e. Leather Jackets, let's be real) folks could subscribe to any or all, which would help both buyers and sellers.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Good idea. ^ ^ ^ ^

 

[splintercellsz]

Has there been any consideration given to dividing the classifieds up? I know it's not a busy enough subforum to be truly necessary, but if it was divided into Hats, Shoes, and Clothes (i.e. Leather Jackets, let's be real) folks could subscribe to any or all, which would help both buyers and sellers.

this

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[AbridgedPause]

Has there been any consideration given to dividing the classifieds up? I know it's not a busy enough subforum to be truly necessary, but if it was divided into Hats, Shoes, and Clothes (i.e. Leather Jackets, let's be real) folks could subscribe to any or all, which would help both buyers and sellers.

I second that! I actually emailed that suggestion to the Admins less than a month ago and never heard back from anyone. The hats get totally lost in all the leather jackets.

 

[FedOregon]

Honestly I've seen more fur felts misidentified as wool than the other way around. Somewhere on a Venn diagram, there's a Section of folks who don't know that fur felt was always predominate. There was a listicle somewhere that I read about why fedoras are awful, and one of the comments was from a guy who was saying that he had a 'real wool felt hat' like they used to be in the old days. Riiiiiiiiiggggghhhht.

I think the chances of someone nefariously concealing a wool felt are negligible.

I picked up a 50's Royal Stetson that was listed as wool felt. I looked it over and decided they didn't know what they had and hit the BIN button.

 

[AbridgedPause]

How about this hat? Seller says his dad bought it for him in 1958. Looks like wool to me because of the thickness of the felt. But there's no mention of the fabric in the liner.
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-clothing-me...-fedora-mans-hat-medium-gray-7-1-8/1004614709

 

[blueAZNmonkey]

How about this hat? Seller says his dad bought it for him in 1958. Looks like wool to me because of the thickness of the felt. But there's no mention of the fabric in the liner.
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-clothing-me...-fedora-mans-hat-medium-gray-7-1-8/1004614709

That looks like fur to me -- on the lower end of the quality spectrum, but still much nicer than wool (imo). The closeups of the felt and the look of the raw edge look just like the fur caps I use for my amateur projects.

 

[John the Swede]

I just erased my previous response since it was innacurate. Anyway -- we have a VHS in San Diego and I notice they sell lots of odds and ends there that are not listed online. I don't think they would purchase a hat from a dept store just to upsell it, but I'm fairly certain they acquire their inventory in many creative ways (patrons, staff members finding stuff, etc).

Well I'll be. Wonder why they didn't just cut off that tag? Seems a bit ghetto leaving a Dillards tag on it. At least they covered the price, looks like.

 

[jlee562]

That looks like fur to me -- on the lower end of the quality spectrum, but still much nicer than wool (imo). The closeups of the felt and the look of the raw edge look just like the fur caps I use for my amateur projects.

+1, texture does look a bit rough (relatively), but looks like fur felt to me.

 

[John the Swede]

Just called....was told it's an "error in tagging," where "most likely" the hat was in a crate ready to be shipped FROM Bailey to Dillards but somehow ended up at the VHS(?) Just typing that made me realize how weird that explanation sounds, though. I said "but it has your sticker over the Dillards tag" and he said that someone in the warehouse (presumably in SD) made that sticker error. When asked if I was recieving a second hand department store return I was told "most likely not." FWIW....

 

[Redfokker]

The Poet of today is not the Poet of yesteryear. Blocks are different. Material is different. Things were lost. Things were 'found.' Suppliers and quality changed.

If you want the closest thing to a 'real' Indy hat these days, contact John Penman. Lots of reasons why.

Or, if you want to save some money, I would go with Mike Miller of NW Hats. He does a stellar Indy (I'm told, have not seen one in person), if you are looking for instant gratification, customs require some patience.

 

[Redfokker]

Has there been any consideration given to dividing the classifieds up? I know it's not a busy enough subforum to be truly necessary, but if it was divided into Hats, Shoes, and Clothes (i.e. Leather Jackets, let's be real) folks could subscribe to any or all, which would help both buyers and sellers.

Yes, yes, yes. I find it annoying to sift through all the leather jackets just to find a vintage hat. I'm lazy.

 

[RJR]

Or, if you want to save some money, I would go with Mike Miller of NW Hats. He does a stellar Indy (I'm told, have not seen one in person), if you are looking for instant gratification, customs require some patience.

Mike does a good INDY as suggested but there are several makers you might consider.Go to the Club Obi Wan site,you'll find a lot of information.